


A Witches Soulmark AU

by Rocklicker



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Hurt/Comfort, Scyllas parents will be mentioned, Soft Raelle Collar, Soft Scylla Ramshorn, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates, Willa isn’t a terrible mom
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-08
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 11:26:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29277672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rocklicker/pseuds/Rocklicker
Summary: Raelle was ten when she woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling of pins and needles on her inner arm right below her armpit. It was a hot and humid summer night in the Carolina cession so she had gone to sleep in soccer shorts and a black t-shirt. Her skin was on fire and her whole body was covered in sweat. She could feel the skin on her arm tightening and her whole body felt like it was vibrating. Turning on the lamp next to her bedside and roughly rolled up her right sleeve she finally saw it.Engulfed in the warm glow was a small bird skull with a symbol painted on its head holding two sprigs of lavender in its beak encircled in a piece of yellow twine tied in a knot.
Relationships: Raelle Collar/Scylla Ramshorn
Comments: 22
Kudos: 86





	1. Raelle’s Mark

**Author's Note:**

> May continue if people seem interested? Let me know! This chapter is Raelle centric. Not sure if Spree is going to exist in this universe.

Soulmates AU 

Raelle was ten when she woke up in the middle of the night to the feeling of pins and needles on her inner arm right below her armpit. It was a hot and humid summer night in the Carolina cession so she had gone to sleep in soccer shorts and a black t-shirt. Her skin was on fire and her whole body was covered in sweat. She could feel the skin on her arm tightening and her whole body felt like it was vibrating. Turning on the lamp next to her bedside and roughly rolled up her right sleeve she finally saw it. 

Engulfed in the warm glow was a small bird skull with a symbol painted on its head holding two sprigs of lavender in its beak encircled in a piece of yellow twine tied in a knot. A little morbid for the ten year old but she still rushed to her mom's bedside shouting about how she finally got her mark. 

Willa rejoiced in the fact that the mark looked to be that of another witch, unlike her own which was the rod of Asclepius, except the middle looked more like a baseball bat than a staff which was Edwin's addition to the bond. A good ole cession civilian who did everything in his power to understand the importance of witches and the war and everything it stood for. While it wasn’t all that rare for witches and civilians to have bonds, it was more rare that they actually honored those bonds and got married. 

The next day Willa sat Raelle down to explain the importance of the mark that was still sore and healing on her inner bicep. Willa sat on the coffee table across from Raelle who sat cross legged with her back against the arm of the sofa. 

“Do we really have to talk about this.” Raelle had her nose in a book trying to escape what she imagined would be a very awkward conversation. Shifting uncomfortably in her seat under her moms gaze. 

Willa rolled her eyes, if Raelle thought this was awkward the birds and bees talk was going to be a nightmare. She loved her daughter's stubbornness until it came to situations like this where she needed to parent. “Yes, you’re now connected to your person and will be able to feel the greatest of emotions that fill your soulmate. It’s important that you know these things” 

Raelle set her book down and finally looked at her mom. “What do you mean the greatest? Like the best feelings?” 

“Sometimes it can be the best, like when they’re happy or excited, but it may be sadness or when they’re not feeling the best. The greatest of feelings are those that we can’t always deal with on our own. They may need to share a burden with you in order to overcome it or they could be filled with such an excess of joy it needs to be shared. What you need to remember is that whatever you feel through your bond is something important and it means your mate needs you.” 

“But how can I help when I don’t know who it is.” Raelle was beyond confused. She didn’t want her soulmate to feel sad and then not be there to make them laugh or smile. How could she help them when she wasn’t there?

“Well the bond goes both ways sweetie, what they feel strongly so will you and vice versa. If you need to comfort them you can do so through the bond.” Willa smiled at her daughter but she knew the bond wasn’t always happy thoughts and fuzzy feelings. 

Sometimes it was pain, grieving, and hurt. Nothing felt worse than when she was deployed and she could feel worry shoot through her and Edwins bond when Raelle had fallen and broken her wrist. Willa had never scribbled down and sent a letter off so quickly in her life, obviously fearing for the worse. Relief washing over when she learned it was just a broken bone, something healable, not something permanent.

Raelle had nodded somewhat understanding, comforting a mate was all biology and she was sure when the time arose she’d think on her feet and figure it out. Healing and helping was second nature to Raelle thanks to all of her mamas lessons. Even at a young age when Willa deployed Raelle did her best to be the healer for those in her small town. Mostly learning by trial and error as well as reading the old books her mama kept. 

But it would be years until she ever had to feel something tugging at her bond in such a way. For now it was ghost touches over the mark and warm contentment in her chest. 

… 

Sometimes at school when kids would pick on her and call her a half breed, shame would grow and her cheeks would flush, anger bubbling to the surface. There was always a soft comfort that grew through her body and put out the fire coursing through her veins. A small reminder that Raelle wasn’t ever actually alone even though she sometimes felt that she was. 

Those times when Raelle gave in to her emotions and ended up with bloody knuckles or a split lip from a tussle with a kid in the schoolyard, pain enveloping her, both mentally and physically, she could feel the tug through the bond. It would always bring Raelle out of the fog and back to reality. 

Her soulmate was worried, another tug on the bond, a cry for reassurance that Raelle was okay. Raelle would softly brush the mark with her fingertips, an apology, a hope that her soulmate couldn’t feel all of the same pain that she did. But she wasn’t naive enough to believe that. 

She would always vow to be more careful next time and there was always a next time. Raelle was small, an easy target to be picked on, but rarely did she back down from a fight.

… 

Raelle could always feel her soulmate more at night. Soft fingers tracing lazy circles over their shared mark, she’d grown accustomed to falling asleep to the comforting feeling. 

Her soulmate seemed to be a night owl because even when Raelle would wake up in the middle of the night she could still feel the soft touch through the bond. There was always a hint of anxiety during the night, the fingers felt like a lullaby, but there was discomfort swirling around her chest. She made the mistake of searching for it one night when she couldn’t sleep. 

It was very faint swimming around her rib cage, Raelle could only feel it if she really focused, waiting for the right moment she pounced and caught it immediately crawling up her neck into a lump in her throat. She gasped like a fish out of water unable to breathe and spots quickly appearing in her vision. Raelle reached for her mark, mirroring the pattern being traced, trying to only focus on that. After a few moments the lump in her throat traveled back down to her lungs and she could breathe. 

Raelle often wondered if the tracing was to comfort her or if it was her soulmates way of calming herself down. Raelle learned not to search for the feeling again, instead focusing on amplifying the comfort in the bond. Hopefully her soulmate could get some sleep too. 

… 

Raelle was fourteen the next time she was paralyzed by the surge of her soulmates emotions and she was confused more than anything else. Why there was a coil of fear low in her gut and dread blooming in chest. The feeling was so strong that Raelle had started looking around for some immediate danger but was only met with the sight of her bedroom. 

The Phoebe Bridgers album posters were still in place on the wall, clothes still strewn all over the floor, her bed remained unmade, and some long forgotten math homework and textbook on her desk, the fairy lights flickered, nothing looked out of place. But Raelle felt out of place.

Her heart clenched and she suddenly couldn’t bring her lungs to fill with oxygen. Backing away from the unknown threat until her back hit the wall and she slid down to the floor bringing her knees to her chest in order to make herself smaller. The back of her knuckles unconsciously rubbing the mark on her inner arm. After a few breathless moments she could feel herself calming down, air finally being drawn into lungs, body beginning to relax. She almost missed the warmth pulsing through soul mark and she swore she could hear an unfamiliar female voice in her head say “thank you”. 

Once Raelle was finally back in her own body she immediately went to find her mom because she had unlocked a whole new level of confusion on soulmates.

“Mom she’s in trouble” Raelle huffed out a little breathlessly, eyes wide in panic.

Willa abandoned the laundry she was folding and went to bring Raelle into a hug. “Who is honey? What’s going on?”

Raelle began to cry silent tears falling down her cheeks and Willa wiped them away. Her heart hurt seeing her daughter in so much pain. “My soulmate, she’s afraid I could feel it. I need to find her.”

Willa squeezed Raelle even tighter, sympathizing with knowing your mates in pain but not being able to physically be there to help it. “Do you still feel it right now? You’ll find her in good time don’t worry. We meet each other when we need it the most. You can’t rush fate.” 

Raelle screwed her eyes shut, “No, it’s better now but it was so bad, I couldn’t breathe, I thought I was going to explode.” Raelle would find her, hopefully sooner rather than later. 

Willa began to rub soothing circles on her back, “It's okay. You helped her, she could feel you through the bond just like you could feel her, you did everything you could.” 

Raelle still felt like she didn’t do enough. Her chest ached and she just wanted to knock on every door possible until she found her soulmate and could hug her so tight that nothing would ever be able to hurt her again. Raelle hoped that she’d never have to feel something like that again. 

Unfortunately she would, sooner rather than later. Somewhere across the country Scylla's family was leaving another safe house in the dead of night, outsmarting the military police this time, but they were hot on their trail.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Scylla never sleeps because her thoughts are too loud.

Scylla and her parents were hunkered down in some abandoned house in a forgotten town in the southwest. A part of the country no one cared about and goddess Scylla wished no one cared about her family. But such a privilege isn’t given to dodgers, the military police had been chasing them ever since Scylla could remember. 

All because they wouldn’t conform to the government's ways, submitting to the government to civilians, accepting to be slaves and fight in a war for what? So they could perish in a far away land because one woman agreed to give up the freedom of all witches? Not a chance. 

Scylla was supposed to be asleep in the safe house, still stuck in the kids room with the other dodger children even though she was almost sixteen, while the adults paced around in the kitchen. The dodger parents always took shifts sleeping, one pair of adults staying awake and watching for trouble in the form of a uniform. 

Scylla was a light sleeper out of habit or maybe it was necessity. Always ready to run at any moment, keeping the most important items on her person at all times. Any creak of a floorboard or turn of a doorknob was like an alarm to Scylla, her bright blue eyes opening and scanning the room, heartbeat thudding in her ears so loudly she’s not even sure she’d be able to hear if there actually was danger. 

Nights were always the hardest because you wouldn’t be able to see the danger lurking in the darkness; the perfect time for the military to attack. It was these late nights while Scylla would stay up counting cracks in the ceiling that she’d mindlessly play with the soulmark tucked under her right arm. 

Fingers dancing patterns and shapes, calling on the bond to bring her comfort, anxiety always simmering in her belly. She’d often fantasize about her soulmate curled up hopefully somewhere nicer than she currently was. Scylla imagined a kind face with gentle eyes smiling at her like she was the whole world. 

Sometimes she’d feel small twitches on the bond at odd hours of the night, a gentle reminder that her mate was there, somewhere. Scylla had her theories on where her mate was. The bond always seemed to shine brighter and she felt more lively the more south her family traveled and vice versa it became cold and duller the further they got from the cession. 

The coldest that Scylla's ever felt was when her family was holed up in a cabin in the mountains somewhere near Seattle. She knew it was more than the mountain breeze that caused the numbness in her bones. It was too far away. She wanted the warmth back, the flush in her cheeks, the spring in her step. She was elated when her parents said they were starting to head back eastward. 

They never really stayed in one place for too long. Somewhere between a week to a month. The longer they stayed in one place the more likely they were to get caught. The military had whole divisions just to find dodgers and their families. 

Although, this was coming close to being the longest they’d stayed anywhere. Almost three weeks in this tiny town because her mom caught a cold and extended their stay by a week. Scylla would never admit it to her parents, afraid of making them feel bad, but she wished they could stay in one place for at least a few months at a time. Maybe she’d be able to make some permanent friends or have some sort of relationship besides just with her parents. 

Sometimes Scylla feared that she’d be running too long to ever find her soulmate or worse the military police would find her first. She’d heard of the soulbond being severed before you get to meet happening before. Usually these stories were shared by older dodger kids, like the telling ghost stories around a campfire. But it was a nightmare that often woke her up from her light slumber. 

The door creaking open to the room had Scylla perking up her ears and sitting up in her sleeping bag to investigate the cause. It was the other mom of the family that was also hiding out here.

“Kids we need to wake up and gather anything you want to keep.” The woman seemed calm but the as fast as you possibly can emphasis was still there. 

Scylla wiggled out of her sleeping bag and shoved it into the stuff sack, rolling up her sleeping pad and attaching it to the bottom of her pack she was on her feet and sliding into her shoes in less than a minute. She left the room making sure to look back and give the rest of the kids a little goodbye nod before heading off to find her parents. 

Scylla found her parents in the kitchen exchanging a few rations of food into their backpacks and offloading a few unwanted perishables into the cabinets. They had worried looks etched onto their faces.

“Mom what’s going on?” Scylla questioned but she wasn’t dumb. There was only one reason to wake up and leave at six in the morning. 

Scylla's parents had learned many years ago that trying to hide the truth from her was futile. She was a smart kid and she’d always figure it out. Plus keeping her in the know was safer for everyone as she could always bring a different perspective to the situation. 

Mrs. Ramshorn gestured towards the front of the house, “Black van pulled about two hours ago, no plates, and no one ever got out.” 

Scylla could feel the fear flare in her chest, “Two hours ago?! Why didn’t you wake me up sooner? We could be halfway to Amarillo by now.” They were going to head back to the Cession next, less government presence, it was always a safer bet even if they had to deal with more civilians. 

“We thought it might’ve been another family coming to stay and waiting to make sure it’s safe but we sent a few light signals to show it’s safe and they never responded.” 

Scylla could tell her mom still wasn’t feeling 100% but they couldn’t stay here if they were in danger of being captured. She started to help her mom sort out their belongings in the fridge as her dad slung his backpack onto his shoulder. 

“I’m going to leave out the backdoor, I parked down the street a block, it should take me about seven minutes to get back here.” 

Scylla and her mom both nodded working on autopilot. They had done this enough times to know the plan. Mr. Ramshorn would drive back to the house with the headlights off, when he deemed it safe he would produce a seed to emit a warm glow under the car and Scylla and her mom would run like hell and pile in the backseat. Then they’d drive off in the opposite direction they’d actually plan on traveling. 

Scylla peeked out the blinds in the living room seeing the aforementioned black van. There was something ominous about it, almost blatantly military issue, she could practically smell the polyester uniforms from here. She watched a dome light come on in the front of the cab as the back door slid open. Her eyes widened and she sucked in a hard breath.

“Mom, we’ve got trouble, they're coming out!” Scylla practically screamed out, her feet back peddling until she ran into her mom. Lila grabbed her daughters shoulders and started to maneuver both of them towards the back door.

“Keep quiet, we’ll go out the backdoor, hang a right out the gate, and run up the street until we meet your dad. If we get separated you keep running and don’t look.” Her mom whispered in a low voice into her ear. 

Scylla didn’t have time to argue but she knew she wouldn’t leave her mom without a fight. Constantly hiding gave Scylla a lot of time to read books in the safehouses and most of them were defensive seeds or other traditional cultural norms that had been lost or bastardized over the years. 

Slipping out the back door the Ramshorn witches stayed low on the fence line until they got to the gate. That’s when everything went to shit. 

They were greeted with two approaching military witches in full combat gear with their arms out at the sides ready to wind strike them off the face of the earth. Scylla only got about two strides into a sprint when a hand grabbed a loose strap on the back of her pack and slammed her into the wooden fence. She didn’t get any time to recover before a fist met her abdomen knocking the breath out of her lungs. The MP spun Scylla around and pushed her harder into the fence while wrench Scylla's arms behind her back in an attempt to cuff her.

Lila was in the middle of her own scuffle when she heard Scylla cry out in pain. A swell of adrenaline had her sending the MP into a slumber with a seed in seconds before sprinting over to her daughter. Lila tackled the MP assaulting her daughter to the ground raining a few retaliatory punches down.

Scylla looked on in complete terror she was frozen to the spot watching her mom singlehanded take on the threat. Every fibre of her being telling her to run but her feet seemed rooted to their spot. There was a darkness consuming Scylla and all she could feel was dread. She thought of every bit of freedom she had taken for granted now that she was on the brink of being locked up forever. Or maybe they’d go easy on her? She was still a minor she could act like she was intending on speaking the words and taking the oath on her eighteenth. 

A honking horn brought Scylla out of her own thoughts as she saw her dad pull up in their old civic. Unfortunately the other MPs in the house also heard the honking horn and came rushing out the front door. Scylla's feet and brain finally started communicating again and she ran over dragging her mom up and off the soon to be unconscious witch pushing Lila ahead of her. 

Her dad slammed his foot on the gas and had the tires screeching before Scylla was even completely sure her entire body was in the car. Scylla and Lila sat in the backseat breathing heavily and trying to process what just occurred. 

“Are you both okay?” Mr. Ramshorn questioned them both making eyes darting between the two girls in the rear view mirror. Both looked pretty disheveled, Scylla's hair sticking every which way, a bruise blossoming on her cheekbone from where she was shoved against the fence, while Lila was beginning to sport a blackeye.

“We will be when we get far far away from here.” Lila croaked out, her voice was pitched high, a little strained from coughing all week as well as the few seeds she had casted out, she was a bit out of practice. 

Scylla got on her knees and turned around to look out the back windshield to see if they were being followed, heart still hammering in her chest, all her senses on high alert. She felt a gentle touch on soulmark and Scylla didn’t have to turn her head to know it was her soulmate. 

She could feel the stiffness in her body dissipate, muscles relaxing, jaw unclenching, shoulders rolling back. Scylla hadn’t even realized how tense she was. She dragged her fingertips across the mark, letting her soulmate know she was okay, “Thank you”, Scylla whispered under her breath. She was safe, her family was safe, her soulmate was safe. She went back to her seated position leaning against her mother’s side. 

The Ramshorn family would be okay for another day and as the sun just started to come up on the horizon of the freeway Scylla allowed her exhaustion to lull her to sleep in the safety of her mother’s embrace as Lila placed a kiss on the crown of her head. 

She dreamed of the day she could fall asleep in the safety of her soulmates arms. Maybe one day she wouldn’t have to be on the run and she could be at peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do I know where this is going? Perhaps not but we’ll find out together. Probably going to get more sad before we get some much needed fluff.


End file.
